


Khan: Ruby

by wheel_pen



Series: Khan AU [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk agrees to awaken a second Augment, Ruby, whose presence helps to stabilize Khan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Khan: Ruby

**Author's Note:**

> The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things.  
> I hope you enjoy this AU. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.

If Khan thought they were going to defrost his crewmember right then and there, he was wrong. McCoy had tests to run, preparations to make. Suitable private quarters had to be found, outfitted with extra security measures and computer access restriction. Upon examining the rooms Khan had nonchalantly suggested the bed’s structure be reinforced; but Kirk thought he was just being obnoxious.

His impatience escaped occasionally and Kirk enjoyed watching him reel it back in, but he wasn’t trying to taunt the other man, and he didn’t introduce any unnecessary delays into the process. It would have been easy to take advantage of Khan’s eagerness, but even thinking about it made Kirk feel slightly greasy. Marcus’s face (pre- and post-crushing) loomed large in his imagination—the man had awakened a dragon and tried to manipulate it for his own ends. Kirk was going to learn from that.

“You need more blankets,” Khan insisted to McCoy as he hovered over Ruby’s unconscious form on the biobed.

“One is fine,” McCoy assured him tolerantly. He and McCoy seemed to tolerate each other well.

“She’s weaker than I am, she’ll get cold.”

McCoy was studying the monitors above the bed. “Well, _any_ sign that she’s coming out of the deep freeze would be—“ The computer beeped. “Okay, there we go.”

Kirk, Spock, and six security officers balancing between tension and boredom became more alert as McCoy spoke. No way was an Augment waking up without Kirk being there, but the process had been duller than he’d anticipated. And watching Khan sit steadfastly by the bed, holding Ruby’s hand and murmuring in her ear, made him feel somehow inadequate (a normal feeling around Khan, really).

“Ruby, can you hear me?” Khan asked, stroking her cheek tenderly. “You’re safe, Ruby. I am protecting you.” Kirk wanted to roll his eyes, but Khan was so frighteningly confident in his assertions, you almost felt he could alter reality with them.

Not so, apparently. More alarms and beeps burst from the computer. “S—t,” McCoy swore, as Ruby’s body started to convulse on the table. “Thermal dip, now! Get out of the way!” This was directed at the security officers, whom McCoy hadn’t wanted clogging up his Sickbay in the first place. “Hey! Only one per bed, Khan!” he snapped, as the other man swiftly climbed onto the table and pulled the woman into his arms, draping the silvery thermal blanket over them both.

“Ruby, you’re safe here,” Khan repeated, completely ignoring McCoy. The woman shuddered violently and more blankets were piled on top of them, because McCoy was not going to play tug-of-war with his patient in the middle. “Wake up, Ruby!” Then Khan kissed her, parting her lips so he could dive in.

And the alarms stopped.

Naturally. _Of course_ , Kirk thought, rolling his eyes when it didn’t seem tasteless to do so. Khan wakes—and heals!—the princess with a kiss. Was it too much to hope her shivering would end with his tongue bitten off?

Khan pulled back but pressed her close to him, while McCoy resorted to actually touching her to take her pulse. Ruby’s hand moved, reaching up to cup Khan’s cheek, and when she leaned back her eyes were open, sky blue and staring at him in wonder. He started to smile at her, but then her full lips trembled, her eyes filled with tears, and she started to cry.

“Shh, Ruby, you’re safe,” Khan told her again, tucking her head against his chest while McCoy held various sensors up to her back. “You’re safe and—“ He paused, as if suddenly realizing this wasn’t what she was upset about, and he lapsed into uncharacteristically uncomfortable silence.

Kirk tried to imagine what must be going through her mind. Last she knew, she and all her kind had been put on trial following their defeat in the worldwide Eugenics Wars, condemned to sleep forever in the cryo-tubes. That might’ve seemed like just yesterday to her. Was she crying because they’d been defeated, or because they’d started a war in the first place? What kind of perspective did being the ‘runt of the litter’ of Augments give you?

“Alright, you can go,” Kirk told the security team suddenly. Spock glanced at him as if to say, another gut feeling? But two of them would remain outside the Sickbay doors anyway, as long as an Augment was inside. Kirk just didn’t think there was going to be any excitement for a while.

“We’re three hundred years in the future, Ruby,” Khan started telling her, a tinge of excitement in his tone that hadn’t been there before. So far the twenty-third century hadn’t been kind to Khan (or vice versa) but considering the primitive conditions he’d known in the twentieth, there had to be _some_ advantages here. “We’re on a ship that travels through space faster than the speed of light! And, there are sentient species known, from other planets.”

Ruby looked up at him then, her tears having slowly subsided. “Aliens?” she asked.

Khan nodded. “New worlds to explore,” he told her, with enthusiasm. “We’re to be given a planet of our own, a second chance to—“

“Who would give _us_ a planet?” Ruby sighed pessimistically. Her voice was lower than Kirk expected, scratchy like she had a head cold.

“Well, there won’t be anyone else on it,” Khan explained. “We’ll found a new civilization, conquering nature to—“

“Anyone?” Ruby cut in skeptically.

“No one but our family,” Khan reiterated.

For some reason this made Ruby’s expression crumple again and Khan pulled her close. “We’ll start over,” he promised her.

“Sorry, can I get a blood sample?” McCoy intruded.

Ruby had mostly stopped shivering, so Khan allowed him to tug the blanket down over her bare shoulder. “This is Leonard McCoy,” Khan introduced. “He’s the chief doctor on this ship.”

“Ma’am,” McCoy greeted, and Ruby gave him a tentative smile.

“Hello.”

“And _this_ ,” Khan went on, a hint of amusement in his tone, “is the captain of this vessel, James Kirk.”

“Uh, hi,” Kirk said, hoping he wasn’t expected to make a speech.

Ruby seemed to look around the larger room for the first time, and her pale face flushed slightly as she pulled the blankets tighter around her. “Um, hello, Captain,” she replied, trying to make herself more presentable.

“Are you still cold?” Khan asked in confusion.

“No, just _modest_ ,” Ruby hissed at him, yanking back a blanket he’d moved.

“Oh, that,” Khan scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Modesty pertains only to inferior beings with flaws to conceal.”

For some reason this made Ruby smile fondly at him. “I missed you,” she told him.

His eyes darkened. “I missed _you_.” He tried to kiss her again but she pushed him away with a nervous giggle.

“Stop! Everyone’s watching.”

“Get used to _that_ ,” Khan advised. Kirk had been thinking of ways to make a graceful exit, but now he was glad he’d stayed, or otherwise he would’ve missed seeing Khan get shoved onto the floor in an ungainly heap.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Ruby told him, looking down at him. “I didn’t realize the bed was so narrow.”

“Not really meant for two,” McCoy pointed out dryly, seizing the moment to read all her vitals.

Khan popped up, looking better than anyone who’d just been kicked out of bed should. “No harm done,” he assured her.

“ _Well_ ,” Kirk finally said, “let me know how it goes, Bones.” Looked like Ruby could take care of herself, anyway.

**

Kirk was sitting on the Bridge reading a very dry report from Astrometrics when suddenly he heard a woman moaning, then a man, and turned slowly in his chair to see a very embarrassed Lt. Uhura hurriedly snapping at her controls. “Sorry, sir,” she apologized at his look. “You said to monitor Khan and Ruby when they were released from Sickbay and, well, there was an anomalous reading from their quarters—“

Kirk bounded over to look at her small screen, the sound thankfully muted. “Bones _just_ released her,” he frowned. “G-d, they don’t waste any time, do they?”

“No, sir,” Uhura agreed.

The action on the screen heated up to uncomfortable levels, at least to those watching. “Um, you don’t think she’s— _resistant_ , or anything—“ Kirk checked, because wouldn’t _that_ be a great thing to intervene on—

“No, I don’t think so, sir,” Uhura judged. Upon further reflection Kirk had to agree.

Their eyes widened at the same time. “Oh my G-d,” Kirk couldn’t help exclaiming, as Uhura tilted her head thoughtfully. “That’s not—I mean, physically, is that—“

“Seems so,” Uhura noted, with interest.

The picture suddenly snapped from clear video to ill-defined blobs of heat, and Kirk and Uhura glanced up to see Spock giving them as chiding a look as he was capable of. “I believe _that_ was the button you were searching for, Lieutenant,” he remarked coolly.

“Er, yes, thank you, Mr. Spock,” she replied, flustered.

Kirk refused to be flustered, because he was the captain, and he had to know what Khan was up to on his ship. Er, so to speak. He straightened up with dignity and reclaimed his command chair. “Keep me informed.” The report from Astrometrics was looking even worse now.

**

End of shift. Kirk appeared by Uhura’s side again, peering at the small screen showing color-coded blobs of light moving around. “Are they going at it _again_?” he asked, not entirely surprised.

Uhura slumped at her post, chin resting on her hand as though thoroughly depressed. “Still,” she corrected.

Kirk glanced at her for confirmation. “It’s been what, six hours?” This was ridiculous, and he was comfortable feeling morally superior about it, somehow.

“Six and a half,” Uhura said flatly.

“Well, three hundred years,” Kirk allowed, magnanimously. Then he watched the blobs a little longer. “Continuously?” he checked.

Uhura nodded mutely. Above the screen, another window showed two squiggly lines; the blue one spiked suddenly, followed a moment later by the green. “There they go again,” she sighed, making a note on her datapad.

“What’s that?”

“Vocal print. The peaks are, well, peaks.” After six and a half hours Uhura had gotten well past embarrassment. She tapped at her datapad. “He averages six per hour, and she’s more like ten, usually several in quick succession, followed by—“

Kirk was still stuck on the first statistic. “Six per _hour_? Every ten minutes? For six hours?!” he boggled.

“I sent the biometric data to Dr. McCoy,” Uhura informed him. “He says their physiology has several unusual aspects—“ Kirk stared at her. “What?”

“You and McCoy are _studying_ Khan and Ruby having sex,” he pointed out.

Uhura gave him a frosty look. “You _told_ me to monitor,” she rejoined primly. “I’ve compiled a detailed report on—oh, they moved again.” She switched the screen view, finding the twitching blobs vertical now.

“They move around.”

“Oh yes,” Uhura agreed dryly. “Bed, couch, floor, wall, desk, shower. I keep waiting for them to appear on the ceiling.”

Kirk frowned at the data she streamed, trying to cling to that moral superiority. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing to a stretch of low-level vocal print. “Is that talking? They’re not plotting anything, are they?” The possible genuine security risk made him feel better, otherwise this had a whiff of _prying_ to it.

“He recites poetry,” Uhura sighed, miserably.

“Oh G-d. _Really_?” Kirk felt slightly nauseous. “That’s just—over the top. Are you sure it’s poetry?” he questioned suspiciously. “What if they’re speaking in code?”

“It’s real poetry,” Uhura assured him. “I checked the database. Shakespeare, Byron, Neruda, Wasilewski. Even some from other planets. Of course, _some_ people think poetry is illogical,” she added a bit louder, and Kirk turned to see Spock trying not to listen from his station.

He smirked, then tried to think logically himself. “Give them until eight hours,” Kirk decided. “Even _they_ have to take a break sometime. Or should. And send Ruby to Sickbay alone, so McCoy can talk to her without Khan hovering.”

“Yes, sir.”

**

“How are you feeling?” McCoy pointed the hand scanner at Ruby, surreptitiously overriding its controls so it didn’t beep every time one of her readings was anomalous for a human. Because they _all_ were.

“Oh, I feel fine, thank you.” She was a lovely girl, with full lips, chestnut-brown hair, and a curvaceous figure under the green dress that had been found for her. No wonder Khan couldn’t keep his hands off her.

“You know, three hundred years of cryo-sleep is a lot for a body to handle, even yours,” McCoy commented professionally. “You should try to get some rest. Don’t let him wear you out.”

Ruby blushed at that, a refreshing display of humanity compared to Khan. “It’s alright,” she assured the doctor. “We’ve been separated a long time. And he said he’d been awake for a while, all alone. That’s not good for him.”

McCoy turned away to fiddle with his instruments before she could see his expression. He wasn’t sure how much sympathy he could spare for Khan; it might’ve all been used up on the victims of his attacks. “I know you guys don’t need to eat or sleep much, but be sure to—“ He felt a hand on his shoulder and the tension that had collected in his muscles eased. Ruby wore a troubled expression when he turned around.

“He did something bad, didn’t he?” she surmised seriously. “Something recent.”

“Yes,” McCoy replied frankly, not sure what kind of detail he should go into. He would make sure the public record of Khan’s attacks was accessible to her.

“People on this ship fear him, hate him,” Ruby acknowledged. “Like they’ve seen what he can do themselves.” She sounded like this idea bothered her.

“You don’t seem very much like him,” McCoy observed. Something like guilt flickered across her face—McCoy had no doubt she’d done terrible things in the middle of the Eugenics Wars, along with the rest of the Augments. And he tried to remember those days were fresh in her mind, while for him it had been a half-recalled history lesson, at least until a few years ago. But he felt like he was a good judge of character, and she just didn’t give off the same vibe Khan did. He patted the biobed and she sat back down on it. “Why do you think he wanted _you_ awakened first?”

Ruby took a breath, as if debating where to begin—though she didn’t seem to be _reluctant_ to tell him. “Khan is our leader, because Khan is the best at everything,” she said, and smiled knowingly when McCoy rolled his eyes. “Compared to humans, _all_ of the Augments are faster, stronger—but _among_ us, there are differences. Some are better pilots, or better engineers, or more clever. But Khan is the best at everything.”

“And how many times has he made that speech to all of you?” McCoy asked skeptically.

Ruby smiled. “Not that often, we have good memories.” This made her think of something else, and her expression was faraway for a moment. McCoy waited patiently until she came back. “Everyone’s good at something,” she went on, “but it’s not always obvious what.”

“Khan said you and… Hamish?... were the weakest of the Augments,” McCoy commented neutrally.

Ruby nodded readily. “Khan always kept the two of us with him, at his side. People didn’t understand why, there was always gossip about… our ‘talents.’” From her tone of voice and slight flush of embarrassment McCoy could imagine what she meant, and he smirked a little.

“Augments gossip?” he asked lightly, as if such a thing was unbelievable.

“Augments gossip _better than anyone_ ,” Ruby deadpanned, and he chuckled. “They understood later, though. During the war. Hamish and I are good at something Khan completely lacks.”

She paused, and McCoy looked at her. “Well don’t keep me in suspense,” he prompted. He’d always known, logically as Spock would say, that someone couldn’t literally be better at _everything_ , but he didn’t think he’d ever hear a specific thing admitted to with Khan. “What’s this amazing thing Khan actually fails at?”

**

“Empathy!” McCoy announced, feeling very satisfied with himself. Kirk looked like the light hadn’t dawned yet. “She’s an empath! You know, senses emotions? And more importantly, she can take emotions away.”

Kirk frowned. “Sounds like a good way of manipulating people,” he noted suspiciously.

“Yeah, of manipulating _Khan_ ,” McCoy emphasized. “The guy has no empathy. He completely lacks the ability to understand how other people feel. That’s no surprise, right?”

Kirk snorted, darkly. “No. That part makes sense.”

“So Ruby supplies the empathy,” McCoy explained. “She helps him understand how other people feel, and takes away some of his more homicidal impulses.” He’d been thinking about this a lot, and to him it seemed reasonable, even brilliant. Nobody seemed to know if the Augments had actually been designed this way or if it was just a happy accident, though.

But Kirk had his own spin on it. “Are you telling me Khan had _two_ empaths at his side making him feel happier and more compassionate,” he began flatly, “and he _still_ caused the Eugenics Wars?”

McCoy rolled his eyes but had to admit he hadn’t considered that part. “Well imagine how much worse they would’ve been _without_ them,” he pointed out.

“More like London and San Francisco,” Kirk nodded. Unsurprisingly he’d done a lot of reading about the Eugenics Wars lately, and he got the feeling Khan and his Augments planned to be benevolent dictators when all was said and done—of course Kirk preferred to be without dictators at all, but acts of terrorism against non-combatants hadn’t really been Khan’s style in the past.

“Also I don’t know if Hamish is really a full-on empath,” McCoy was forced to admit. “He’s not as strong as Ruby, anyway. Which is why Khan wanted her first.” He shrugged. “Maybe Hamish is just a nice guy. Ruby said he was their doctor.”

“A doctor for Augments?” Kirk scoffed. “That must be more like a weekend hobby.” McCoy acknowledged the point. “Well she’s awake now,” Kirk said, with finality. They couldn’t exactly put her back in the tube. “Keep an eye out.” That went without saying.

**

Uhura reported that someone in Khan’s cabin started streaming all the public records about his attacks three years earlier—all the video files, written reports, even the lists of names on the memorials. Of course those didn’t tell the _entire_ story, because much of Admiral Marcus’s underhanded dealings had been classified for security reasons. But presumably Khan could tell that part of the story himself.

Kirk didn’t for a moment think it was _Khan_ accessing the records, partly because he didn’t believe the man cared, and partly because he was in the gym, alone, during most of the time the documents were in use. Khan and Ruby were on the outs for the rest of the day—they didn’t even have sex, and Kirk _really_ wished he didn’t have to keep _that_ close an eye on them—but after that they were together again, walking down the hall on their limited outings hand in hand.

“Why am _I_ the one in charge of him?” McCoy complained at the staff’s latest ‘Khan’ meeting.

Spock decided to answer that one. “As the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, it is your duty to oversee the physical and mental health of—“

“Oh my G-d, is _that_ what I’m doing here?” McCoy interrupted facetiously. “I thought I was just here to whip up a few mint juleps and pithy comebacks—“

Kirk could see Spock’s jaw tighten almost imperceptibly. “It’s because Khan scared off all the counselors,” he clarified frankly. “So, yeah, you get to be the point person on this. They’ll check in with you every day.”

“Great, the two people on the ship least likely to need a doctor,” McCoy grumbled.

Kirk thought he was just being difficult now. “It’s only what’s already been happening, Bones,” he pointed out. “But now I’m making it official, since our Augment population is expanding.” And who wasn’t thrilled about _that_? “So drain all their blood and bring all the tribbles you want back to life with it.” He paused. “Not really though, I hate tribbles.”

McCoy rolled his eyes. “Fine. What are our happy little Augments up to this week? They spend a lot of time in the gym. She likes yoga, he does martial arts and breaks a lot of training dummies. Oh, Lt. Sk’nil volunteered to spar with Khan sometime.”

Kirk blinked. “Is Lt. Sk’nil suicidal?”

“I believe the lieutenant’s greater strength and stamina compared to humans might provide a more equitable opponent for Khan,” Spock pointed out.

Kirk was pretty sure Sk’nil was the big green guy with four arms. Could be fun. But on the other hand—“I’m not sure how much interaction Khan should have with the crew.”

“He’s got half the security detail doing _tai chi_ now,” McCoy noted with a snort.

“Well… ask Ruby what she thinks,” Kirk hedged. “I just don’t want to give Khan too much temptation. Why can’t the two of _them_ spar?”

McCoy shrugged. “They just don’t. They dance a lot, though.”

“Is that a euphemism?” Kirk asked with a frown. He thought they were past those.

“No,” McCoy corrected shortly, as though there was something wrong with where Kirk’s mind went. “They like to dance. You know, the waltz, foxtrot, Electric Slide? Right now they’re learning the Risan tango, getting pretty good at it.”

“G-d, I bet he’s a great dancer, isn’t he?” Kirk predicted scornfully.

McCoy smirked. “Of course! Also he’s expanded his hobbies to art.” He slid an actual piece of paper over to Kirk, a charcoal drawing of Ruby, beautifully and artistically rendered. Kirk wanted to rip it to shreds but knew that would be petty. “And Ruby’s started making these.”

“I wondered why you were carrying that,” Kirk admitted, as McCoy set a lumpy fabric thing on the conference table. “What is it?”

“She said it was a sock monkey.” McCoy let the words hang in the air.

“A sock… monkey,” Spock repeated slowly. “This object bears no resemblance to socks _or_ monkeys,” he observed. “Could this be a sign of mental instability, Doctor?”

Kirk picked up the soft stuffed thing. “Well, it’s got arms and legs,” he decided generously. “Oh, and a tail. And eyes. All things monkeys have. Er, Earth monkeys anyway.” The blind winged monkeys of Gamma Rho IV were another story, however.

Spock gave him a dubious look. “Perhaps it is meant to be abstract,” he allowed.

“I looked it up, it’s some kind of primitive folk art children’s toy,” McCoy assured them. “Poor people made them out of worn-out clothing.”

“Oh, I get it, it’s _made_ of socks,” Kirk realized, turning the toy upside down and backwards. “Here’s the heel, and this is the toe.” Spock merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“Ruby said modern socks were hard to work with,” McCoy conveyed. “The old ones were made of animal or plant fibers. She wants some more craft supplies in general.”

Kirk pushed the stuffed creature back towards McCoy, its unblinking eyes watching him with creepy intensity. “G-d, must be nice,” he muttered. “Commit terrorism and genocide, get transported to the future, have a nice holiday dancing and reading and making toys.” He turned the sock monkey face down, feeling judged by it.

“Don’t forget, lots of sex,” McCoy added dryly, just when Kirk thought they would get away without discussing that.

“I’m curious, Captain,” Spock cut in. “What do _you_ envision the Augments doing with their time?”

He did sound honestly curious, and Kirk knew it was a fair question. He just didn’t have a good answer for it. “I don’t know,” he admitted with a sigh. “It just seems like they shouldn’t be having so much _fun_. I mean, we’re taking them to exile on a distant planet.”

“Khan seems to regard this as a positive outcome,” Spock noted.

“More positive than being dead,” McCoy added. “Anyway, I don’t know if I’d say they’re having _fun_ ,” he went on. “Well, I’m not sure if Khan’s _capable_ of it. And Ruby seems pretty melancholy, really. She started crying when she was showing me the toys she’d made.”

“You did refer to them as ‘happy’ earlier, Doctor,” Spock pointed out, and McCoy rolled his eyes.

“ _Sarcasm_ , Spock,” he clarified. “Do we need to set up a hand signal?” Spock’s expression said he definitely recognized the sarcasm _this_ time.

“Well, they could do something _useful_ ,” Kirk insisted. “But non-essential. Obviously nothing sensitive. Or that would give them the opportunity to cause trouble.”

“Maybe they could serve food at parties,” McCoy deadpanned. “No, wait, they might spike the punch.”

Kirk rolled his eyes. “Well, try to think of something,” he ordered anyway. If he had to have Khan strutting around his ship, he might as well get some work out of him.

**Author's Note:**

> For visual reference, Ruby is played by Scarlett Johansson.


End file.
